Jet Force Gemini

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The wait is over. IGN64 reviews the finished version of Rare's enormous 3D action-shooter.

By Matt Casamassina

If you own a Nintendo 64, chances are you've heard of Jet Force Gemini. The game, more than two years in the making, is a 3D third-person action-shooter developed by British software house Rare, a company that is undeniably one of Nintendo 64's best contributors. Created by Rare's Blast Corps team, Jet Force Gemini follows the quest of intergalactic policing agents Juno, Vela and Lupus the Dog, as they battle to restore peace to the universe. The original shooter is absolutely epic, incorporating huge, stretching worlds, a seemingly endless amount of enemies and a virtual scroll of tasks that need to be accomplished. As if this weren't enough, the title also features a two-player cooperative mode of sorts, a four-player battle mode and enough secrets to enhance replay value through next year. Jet Force Gemini is easily one of Rare's most ambitious endeavors to date.

Too ambitious, perhaps, for its own.

Rare aficionados may be discouraged to learn that Jet Force Gemini has more than a few dents in its shiny armor. The game's visuals, while grand, are often hampered by an irritating framerate that jerks and hitches at every turn and wide-open area. Meanwhile, game design issues that serve to extend replay value also double as a tedious annoyance. Additionally, control mechanics feel clumsy at times, often transforming what should be a relatively simple task into a lesson in frustration.

If you're expecting a perfect game, you're in for a disappointment. With that said, Jet Force Gemini still comes highly recommended. Considering all of the aforementioned shortcomings you might be wondering how this can be. Simple, really. It's a matter of the good outweighing the bad, and this is exactly the case with Rare's unique shooter.

The Facts

Third-person 3D action-shooter.

Epic quest promising 30+ hours of gameplay for first-time explorers.

Play as multiple different characters throughout the adventure.

15 gargantuan worlds to explore with multiple sub-levels each.

Two-player cooperative mode.

Four-player battle mode.

Multiple seemingly indestructible bosses.

More than 15 available weapons and items.

Real-time cut-scenes highlight the action.

Cute style combined with grotesque death animations and bloody leftovers.

Dolby Surround Sound enhanced.

Wide-screen mode available.

Save games to cartridge (multiple save slots available).

Rumble Pak support. (Note: Despite what the box indicates, JFG does not support the 4MB Expansion Pak.)

Gameplay If Rare is a company known for improving upon existing genres and ideas, then it's safe to conclude that the developer's Blast Corps team is the pioneering unit of the firm. After all, in a mix of Banjo-Kazooies and GoldenEyes -- brilliant titles that based their foundations on previously established genres -- it was Blast Corps that delivered a completely new, refreshing experience to Nintendo 64 owners. And among planned sequels to Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye, it is once again the Blast Corps team that has dug deep into its videogame roots for yet another original concept in Jet Force Gemini.

In the game, players control one of three main characters, Juno, Vela, and Lupus the dog. As the title begins, each character is forced to play through three huge, though entirely unique worlds before finally travelling to Mizar's Palace -- a meeting point. Only when all three characters have met each other at Mizar's Palace can they explore each other's previous worlds, which become unlocked. So, players go through these levels the first time around and find that they can't access everything they see; some doors remained locked, some Tribals (little bear-like creatures you need to rescue) sit too far out of reach and there are fuel pads on the ground that seem to be useless.

There are three important character traits to remember:

Juno can walk on fire and lava. Fire does not hurt the character.

Vela can swim underwater.

Lupus can hover for extended periods of time.

Players must figure out when to use a specific character to access an area. In one of Lupus' stages, for example, the dog might find a door that can't be accessed because it is on the other side of a giant lava pit. Players will quickly realize that while Lupus cannot cross lava, Juno possesses the ability to do just that. The idea is to return to the stage later in the game with Juno, who can cross the lava with ease and discover hidden -- necessary -- goodies on the other side. To make matters worse, most levels in the game feature items that require visits from all three characters to retrieve them all.

It's nearly impossible to fully complete a level the first time through it. There is almost always something that cannot be reached or retrieved without the help of another character. To complete the game, players must rescue every Tribal in every level. Rescuing Tribals is not an optional side quest -- it's mandatory. This is a time-consuming task that is going to take an immeasurable amount of dedication on a player's part.

The "IF" after incredible "IF" of rescuing Tribals in Jet Force Gemini: If gamers do not complete the level after rescuing all the Tribals in it, none of their hard work is saved. Not bad enough yet? Well, what if Rare decided to hide Tribals in hard to find areas and in-between explosive barrels to make the quest more difficult? Still here? Alright, what if enemy drones were made to try and gun down the Tribals as they were being rescued? Still up for the task? Okay then, how about if, like the Jinjos in Banjo-Kazooie, players had to rescue all the Tribals in a level before exiting, or had to start over from scratch if they were to accidentally miss or kill one?

Above: Trust us, you'll grow to hate the Tribals in JFG as much as this boss character does.

It's fairly obvious that Rare has done everything possible to extend the replay value and longevity of the game by forcing players to go through level after level hunting down Tribals. Perhaps we could live with this horrible injustice if, every time we re-entered a level, all of its enemies weren't fully respawned and ready for action again. And perhaps we could even make due with that if, in order to progress through the levels again and again with different characters, we could freely run through them avoiding enemies. Instead, a good portion of the doors in each world remain locked until every enemy in the immediate area has been killed.

Bottom line, expect to play through levels multiple times, with enemies respawned and doors re-locked. Frustration, we guarantee you, will kick in -- and it will kick in hard. And this, mind you, is to say nothing of retrieving all of the spaceship parts and items. The word tedious comes to mind.

Control The setup borrows a bit from the Turok franchise in that the left and right camera (C) buttons are used to strafe left and right. C-Up and C-Down, meanwhile, are used to jump and crouch. The characters are maneuvered with the analog stick. If players are using the standard pistol, an automatic targeting system is utilized so very little precision aiming is required. All it takes to gun down a few ant drones is to position a character in their direction and hold the Z-trigger down. However, if a more advanced weapon is employed, such as the sniper rifle, players will need to use the R button to activate manual targeting. Once the R button is held down, the analog stick ceases to control the main character and instead works to move the gun target around for precision killing. It's possible play the game this way, using all four C buttons to move forward, backward, left and right. The A button is used to scroll weapons, talk and open chests, while the B button is more or less used to scroll backward and generally back out of conversation. Finally, the D-Pad acts as an instant weapon selector, as players can assign four of their favorite guns to the up, down, left and right positions on it.

There is a steep learning curve. When IGN64 first played JFG, we died almost immediately. We clumsily ran through a level, bumping into walls while struggling to come to grips with the manual targeting system. Only after practice and a decent amount of time with the game did we come to appreciate the control scheme, which allows for an amazing amount of different procedures to be accomplished with the Nintendo 64 controller. And yet, we wish Rare would have spent a little more time with it. The targeting system, in particular, is extremely difficult to master. We've beaten the game, rescued everything, uncovered all of its secrets; we've put more than 45 hours into the title. And when we try to snipe an enemy down from a tree in the distance, we still can't help but struggle with the aiming system. It's just not very intuitive.

Additionally, characters move at a sluggish, sometimes catch-up speed. Press to the left and a character will move to the left. Stop pressing to the left and the character will still continue moving for a split second longer. This, coupled with Jet Force's framerate (which we'll get to in a moment), actually damages any tight sense of control one might be hoping for.

The Good In spite of all the drawbacks we've listed thus far, Jet Force Gemini still offers vintage Rare mechanics and challenge. Smart level design, coupled with lots of things to find, always gives players something to do in addition to blasting away at enemy after enemy (which is fun in itself). For example, during the course of the game players meet up with Floyd, a hovering robot sidekick. Unfortunately, before Floyd can be of any use, the robot must be reassembled by players; his body parts have been blown apart and scattered by Mizar's troops. Gamers must find the robot's pieces and bring them back to a stationary Floyd, who eagerly awaits the chance to be his old self again. Once this task is accomplished, Floyd becomes a playable character in the game. There are many similar objectives in the game, which work to dish out lots of small, but no less important sub-quests.

The game features five major boss encounters as well. We're not going to give too much away here, but we will note that each giant enemy has its own characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Players will have to pinpoint these weaknesses and unleash an entire arsenal of weapons on them in order to succeed. These battles are brutal, difficult and very, very rewarding. We spent 45 minutes alone trying to beat the final boss in the game, and each time we thought we had bested the creature it would get back up again and begin fighting. However, once it was all over, we really felt like we had accomplished something. It's old-school gameplay brought into 3D and it's all extremely satisfying.

The action is non-stop. JFG features its share of exploration and puzzle-solving, but the game is a shooter at its core. In any given level, there are literally dozens and dozens of drones to kill and each weapon will take them out in a different way. Launch the tri-rockets into a room with tens of ants and players will be treated to a gory explosion of guts and blood, accompanied by some of the greatest sound effects in a Nintendo 64 game yet. It's twisted to be sure.

And it grows on you. We've mentioned the game's sometimes frustrating framerate. We've talked about Rare's insistence to reroute gamers through the same levels over and over again. We've noted the control issues in the title. If you're anything like us, though, none of the above will really matter in the same way that the sluggish framerate in GoldenEye really doesn't matter. If you're looking for a huge, epic quest, then be happy. If you want lots of action, then be happy. If you want some seriously deep gameplay mechanics, then be happy. Jet Force Gemini has you covered... and then some.

Arsenal, Ants and AI Jet Force Gemini is a shooter at heart and therefore it makes sense that the game features more than 14 different weapons and a few damaging items to boot. The arsenal includes, but is not limited to the standard pistol, a machine gun, tri rockets, cluster bombs, shurikens, a plasma shotgun, grenades, a shocker (shoots lightning bolts), homing missiles and more. Each weapon, save for possibly the plasma shotgun (which is virtually useless), works in different ways. The pistol, as we've mentioned, features an auto target and never runs out of ammo. The machine gun sprays gunfire everywhere and is perfect for taking out air drones up-close, but does very little for long-range firing. Tri rockets kill just about everything in sight, but can also damage the player if they are too close to the blast and not careful. Shurikens -- throwing stars -- chop off the heads of shielding ants, thereby eliminating the pesky drones in one quick swipe. Almost every weapon really does serve a significant purpose.

The drones in the game are relatively smart. They don't run out into wide-open areas and wait for a player to blast away. They hide behind objects, use their shields to block bullets and run. Some, sensing they've got no chance, will even throw down their weapons and surrender. Specific enemies require the use of a specific weapon in order to be killed. Zombie ants -- a walking, undead drone -- for example, can't be killed by a mere pistol or machine gun. But a strong blast from the tri rockets will rip the enemy to bloody pieces. Minor additions such as this add a bit more strategy to what is already an incredibly difficult adventure.

Multiplayer Easily one of Jet Force Gemini's biggest drawbacks is its less than impressive multiplayer mode, a feature that almost feels as if it were thrown in during the last stretch of development to satisfy the masses. While Rare has admittedly implemented a lot in terms of options for the mode, including different battle types like straightforward deathmatch, target practice, a Diddy Kong-esque racer, none of it comes together as planned. The standard deathmatch mode, in particular, is slow and clunky. It wants to be a first-person shooter and would probably work fine as such, but the third-person view simply makes it too difficult to accurately aim, or, for that matter, even find other opponents. Meanwhile, the target practice mode, which relies heavily on the analog stick for aiming, also fails to pan out as planned. This is because the manual targeting system in Jet Force Gemini is flawed from the start; it's too difficult to accurately aim. An entire multiplayer mode centered around the manual aim is more frustrating than anything else.

On a brighter note, one of the multiplayer modes unlocked further into the game, that of the arcade Sprint Championship-esque racer, is a lot of fun. Simplistic in design, gamers race around a 2D track over and over again, avoiding obstacles and trying to outperform opponents. Long-time gamers will recognize the racer immediately and will likely appreciate Rare's perfect take of the classic title.

Finally, we should note that the cooperative two-player mode is excellent. One player controls the main character and the other maneuvers Floyd the Robot. All Floyd can do, of course, is target enemies and shoot them. He has no special weapons and has no say in what direction the main character walks. He is just an added gun for a second player to control. It's ingenious for a few reasons. First, it enables a second-player to really help out in the game. More importantly though, Floyd can be used very strategically. It's possible to situate the main character behind a crate and have Floyd fire away at a group of snipers sitting on a ledge in the distance, killing them all without the help of the main character. In fact, it's recommended that players use this strategy when battling endless armies of air drones. It's really very well done.

Graphics Jet Force Gemini has changed a lot since we first saw it more than two years ago. The title's three main characters were originally to be much more child-like in appearance. They were shorter and chubbier. They were "cute." However, after the game was previewed at E3 '99 in Los Angeles to crowds that were, shall we say, not so fond of the character design, Rare went back to the drawing board and whipped up the more grown-up Jet Force team we see before us.

Above: Only Lupus the Dog has retained his original form.

Even with redesigned characters, though, Jet Force Gemini can still be described as "cute" looking, but only at first glance. For if gamers spend any amount of time with the title, they are more likely to describe it glowingly as, "bloody as hell!" It's both. The game offers an off-the-wall visual combination of cartoon-like graphics mixed with over-the-top cartoon gore. It's a bit strange, really, and we like it that way.

Example: Playing as Juno, gamers may walk into a tunnel area where a few blue ants await near an explosive barrel or two. Shooting the ants directly will result in them falling to the ground, and perhaps a body part or two breaking off before death. This is pretty gory in itself. Shooting the barrels, however, will cause an explosion that rips their bodies into pieces and sends gobs of gooey blood splattering over the tunnel walls in every direction. It's nasty.

Rare seems to have no issues about harming the innocent either. It's perfectly alright to accidentally (or otherwise) shoot the head off a kidnapped Tribal. The bear-like being's noggin will fly right off its shoulders, spraying out a pinkish glob of blood. As if this weren't bad enough, it's also possible to collect the heads of the Tribals (this can be done for ants as well. After a number of ant heads are collected, secrets will be unlocked). Perhaps the best demonstration of Rare's viciousness, though, can be seen in the design of the levels and the situation of ants. Certain doors remain locked until all enemies have been killed. One area in the title forces players to shoot a group of surrendered, helpless ants in order to advance to the next area. This sort of behavior is typical Rare, and we'd slap the developer on the wrist for it if we weren't too busy laughing.

Meanwhile, the levels themselves are absolutely huge and stretch forever. It's incredibly easy to get lost. Rare has chosen some, well, interesting color schemes for some of the stages in the game. Goldwood, for example, is spotted with rainbow colors of pink, green, yellow and brown. The effect is a bit hard on the eyes at times. Another good chunk of the game can be described as "blue." None of the backgrounds immediately impress one as a visually striking title like Banjo-Kazooie does, but they'll grow on players to be sure.

Unfortunately, Jet Force Gemini's framerate is its Achilles' heel. It's slow. It's jerky. It's downright annoying in certain areas. It's so inconsistent with multiple enemies on screen in wide-open stages that it really does damage control and the overall gaming experience. Without fluidity, precision aiming in manual targeting mode is extremely difficult and tedious and this is definitely one of the title's biggest and most important flaws. Because the manual targeting system is often a disaster waiting to happen, it's often easier to forgo it for automatic targeting. This, too, presents a problem as the camera angles work against the player, letting enemies escape the field of view with ease. So, many times a player is forced to fire blindly behind their self and hope that the spray of bullets kills whatever it is they can't fully see.

One final gripe. Rare has done an excellent job of creating some breathtaking in-game cut-scenes. We are treated to these as players travel between levels. We see beautiful ships flying through space, avoiding asteroids, and landing on planets. Each scene can take 30 seconds or more. And we can't skip them! After 200 trips between planets, this is unbelievable frustrating.

Sound Jet Force Gemini boots and proudly displays the logo Dolby Surround Sound. All future Rare games will have it, and we couldn't be happier. JFG features some of the very best music and sound effects ever put into a Nintendo 64 game. Every new piece will have gamers humming along with it whether they like it or not. One level in particular, Tawfret, features music that is obviously inspired by the movies Alien and The Empire Strikes Back. Listen to it and we think you'll agree. And if you're like us, you'll turn it up as loud as it'll go and enjoy.

The sound effects are dead-on and crystal clear. Bullets whiz by in full stereo sound. They can even be heard bouncing off walls. Enemies scream in pain before dying. Giant drones growl deeply before attacking. Allies speak in Banjo-Kazooie-esque rhythm, babbling out incoherent garble as text is displayed. One might think this isn't effective, but it does the job perfectly. Perhaps our favorite sound effect in the game is that of blood, though. It can literally be heard splattering on walls in globs, just as body parts can be heard flying in every direction after a big explosion. It's gross. And damn it, we love it.

The Verdict

Having played through every inch of Jet Force Gemini, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience very much. I never thought I'd complain that a game is too big, but this is exactly the case for Rare's 3D action-shooter. The developer has created huge levels that stretch forever, implemented an epic quest that also stretches forever, and topped it all off by forcing players to rescue every Tribal in the game -- a task that is far too tedious to truly be enjoyed. The graphics are beautiful and wonderfully stylized, but it seems Rare has tried to push the Nintendo 64 too far and as a result the title has suffered. A smooth framerate is something Jet Force Gemini simply does not possess, which is really a shame considering how much better the title might have played with one. And while the two-player cooperative quest is definitely worth checking out, the four-player deathmatch mode is too slow and too clunky to bother with.

With everything said and done, though, this is still one of Nintendo 64's most original games and it has much more good going for it than it does bad. Never-ending action, tons of enemies, loads of worlds to explore and Rare's unique brand of humor work to make this a good title that could have been a classic with a little more polish.